Christmas sweets in Spain

It’s officially a New Year and all christmas time holidays are over. In Spain there is a long period of holidays/entertainment days, that starts from December 22 with the most popular Christmas lottery — ‘Loteria de Navidad’ until 6 of January — the Epiphany day, known in Spain also as Día de Los Reyes Magos.

During the Christmas period plentiful sweets appear literally everywhere: from stores and supermarkets to cafes and restaurants, so I’ve decided not only try all of them, but also to write this article. So many treats definitely deserve to be written about.

Turrón

The one and only. Turróns materialised first. They fill store shelves in early November in every supermarket and remain there until January. Typically it is a bar, similar to chocolate, but bigger, thicker. To be a real turrón, it should contain egg whites, honey and almonds or other nuts. However, I haven’t seen one with nuts other than almond.

Generally speaking, there are two types of turrons: hard and crunchy, usually called as an Alicante version, and soft and chewy — a Jijona/Xixona variant. The difference is that for soft version almonds are crushed into paste.

Nowadays, fighting for a customer, a border between traditional turróns and chocolates have begun to blur. On the image above it’s not a real one. It doesn’t contain almonds or any other nuts, but I decided to enjoy the truffle flavor.

By the time of writing I’ve eaten at least over a dozen of them. A taste is extremely different from one to another, chefs deviate from the traditional recipe by adding completely unpredictable flavors: Catalan cream (sorry Сatalonia, but it is the most tasteless turron for me at the moment), strawberry, truffle, pineapple and more.

If you are already eager to try one of these goodies, be aware, that right after holidays, in January, they instantly disappear from stores and it’s quite challenging to find them. For instance, the one, that is on the image, although it states “Vicens”, I bought in a hypermarket. Nevertheless, don’t get too upset if you don’t catch it. There are tourist shops all over Spain, for example, “Torrons Vicens”, where you can buy one all year round.

Panettone

Although its origin is Milan, Italy, panettones (‘large bread’) are widely spread in Spain. Subjectively speaking, it is the most popular dessert during Christmas. Inside, it’s just a sweet bread, very often with the addition of chocolate or raisins, fruits and nuts. Once, created in Italy, now it’s recognisable in many parts of the world with individual variations and adaptations. Google says that you can find Panettone even in USA, Canada and Australia.

A funny part is, that some cafes even change advertising on billboards to keep up with the short Christmas trend by adding panettone in them with a slogan like “visit us and you will taste the best Panettone ever”.

As for me, this is the most delicious treat during Christmas. Especially with pistachio paste ;).

P.S. with its taste and appearance, panettone resembles kulich (an Easter cake of Eastern Slavs), but sweeter.

Polvorón and mantecado

Polvorón, as the name suggests (‘polvo’ means powder in Spanish), is a very soft and crumbly cookie. They are wrapped up as big candies, thus you can easily find them in stores. Polvorón’es make a good addition to the Christmas table and beyond.

Originally from Andalusia, a southern region of Spain, nowadays, it’s admired by all Spanish speaking countries. As candies, they are go with an immense number of flavours — a traditional anise-flavoured version can be found everywhere. I’m not a big fan of anise, but I’m fond of a cacao flavoured option.

Sometimes, people can use another word ‘mantecado’ instead of ‘polvorón’, that basically means almost the same crumbly cookie. The difference is that traditional mantecados contain pork lard (‘manteca’ means lard in Spanish).

There is a similarity in cultures too. In East Slavic countries there is a ‘pryanik’ or ‘piernik’, that is very similar in texture and taste, but slightly firmer.

Roscón de Reyes

When we get closer to 5 of January, these bagels start to appear everywhere. They metaphorically replace other products in stores. On 3 of January in the frozen food section instead of frozen vegetables, peas, nuggets, I saw only them. They were neatly stacked and ready to give joy to children. In cafes and bakeries you can buy them in any size with various fillings. This king cake is one of symbols of Epiphany.

The roscón goes with a figurine inside (represents a king) and it is believed that someone from a family who discovers it will have good fortune. I’ve read, that one also can take out a bean and in this case he has to buy another Roscón, but I ate 3 of them and all 3 had figurines inside. On top, boxes usually include a paper crown for the winner.

The one, that is on the image is not classic. For vanilla version it should be without chocolate on top. Despite the fact that I’m not a big fun of them, I’d recommend to at least try one next time to respect and feel the tradition. I recommend a cream version.

Fruta confitada

A candied fruit, despite not being a Christmas thing, is much more likely to start showing up in stores during this period. This, a well soaked fruit in syrup, is used for decoration of other sweet dishes, cakes and as a separate delicacy. Sometimes they are so candied that it is difficult to distinguish one fruit from another by taste.

But not only fruits can be candied. I’ve tried pumpkin pieces in syrup and it’s hard to call it a candy on its own, but I’m sure it would be great as an accompaniment to something else.

And much, much more

Marzipan, mazapán (Marzipan sweets), hojaldrinas (‘layers of puff pastry’), pestiños (dough, deep fried in olive oil and sweetened with honey or sugar). There are so many desserts for kids and adults, that is served on the table on Christmas holidays, that is almost impossible to capture all of them. Personally, I never cease to be surprised by the seasonality in stores, when in one day an entire section is replaced one product with another for holidays and festivals. Thus, this is the record of the most popular and traditional sweets.

Have you tried something from this list? What is your choice?